He was playing an RTS with too many factions and too many variables enabled- he'd made it so it was immensely memory intensive, and it kept crashing the PC with memory errors. I told him to stop doing that, but he wouldn't listen. So, 2 days ago, disaster struck and we got the blue screen of death.

Since then, the PC doesn't recognize the GPU anymore, no matter what i do. I've reinstalled the latest drivers, i've installed earlier drivers, I've done 2 system restores to earlier dates, I've repaired disk errors, i've defragged. The only thing i haven't tried yet, is that I haven't repaired or re-installed Windows which is my next step (we just want to backup our most precious files first).

I do still get graphics, but it's obviously from the onboard integrated graphics chip. As soon as i try to play any game except for Flashplayer games (Machinarium plays, for instance), it tells me the game cannot initialize, bc i don't have the necessary video unit. Also, when i go to my Nvidea control panel, it won't even start up, telling me that i don't have an Nvidia device installed.

My dxdiag picks up nothing in the display device section- the values are just blank.

I've checked that the GPU is properly seated and properly connected--it is. When the PC goes on, the mobo seems to be fine with the unit, the right LED's go on, the card seems to be working, it's fans are spinning, etc. Which is why i thought (and hoped) that it might just be a software error brought on by the BOS.

If the Win repair doesn't work, the next step is a new GPU, but i'll have to go for the Radeon HD 7770 due to budget constraints. (I've checked a bunch of reviews and it seems to be a faster card on lower resolutions than the Nvidia GTX650, which is comparable in price.)

Sadly i won't be able to afford the RADEON 7850 or the Nvidia GTX 660 or GTX670.

Anybody got any ideas as to what more i can try? ...or must i just accept that the GPU got fried inside?

If the video memory (VRAM) on the GPU is fried, you won't be able to do anything beyond basic tasks with the video card. The card may have gotten too hot if the case wasn't ventilated enough for what the game was doing.

You can try uninstalling the drivers and then running a driver uninstaller to completely get rid of traces of the old drivers before reinstalling them, but I'm guessing the card is burnt out.

Oh boo... you are confirming exactly what i had feared, Jenny. Yes, i actually did uninstall the drivers completely at a point. ..and i did suspect that the GPU's RAM might have fried, yes, because that was exactly the kind of thing that that game would have been pushing to the max, and the ambient temperature was pretty high at the time that it happened, which can make quite a difference, i have found, to one's hardware temps.

I guess i should just accept defeat and order the new card.

It will be my first foray into the realm of Radeon GPU's so let's hope it will be a positive experience.

Draclvr, you are onto my next dilemma. He is only 10, so no ways that he can afford that card.But, like i said to my hubby, should a child be rewarded for disobedience? I think not.

Unfortunately, the little mister has a sister who now can't play her games either, because of his idiocy.

My son has asked us if sacrificing all his next birthday prezzies and b'day party, and his next Xmas prezzies, and doing chores would manage to pay for a new GPU, and i'm sitting here trying to figure out what would be suitable atonement from him...

..but we usually spend quite a bit on birthday parties, and so, if we deduct the cost of such a party, and any prezzies (besides books- I'll never withold books), then his upcoming birthday might certainly, in it's absence of celebration, at least in a monetary sense, contribute quite a bit towards a new GPU..

You seem to be exactly on my wavelength, though. I also thought of making a cost sheet, and chores and good deeds get a positive monetary value, and naughtiness and laxness (maybe cheekiness as well? ) will cause a deduction.

Sadly with such a system alone, we might never even make a $100, let alone the few hundred we'd need for a new card....

Yes, it's hard enough to get him to read,(luckily my 8-year old daughter is much more into reading), so when he likes a certain author and asks for more books, I jump and quickly strike while the iron is hot.

Also don't forget to check the power supply. The power supply could be going bad. Some of these video cards have a direct connection to the power supply.Also you buy a used 9800GTX on ebay cheap. I have seen them on ebay for as little as $20

Hi Donald! Yes i had thought it might be partly to do with the power supply, but i had bought a new 650 Watt or was it 600 Watt? PSU for their system a year ago, and they have only one hard drive and not much else running on the system, so that should be enough.

In any case, blessings sometimes come in disguise. I have that Dosboxed set of the King's Quest games, and my daughter is now becoming acquianted with Kings' Quest. It's giving me nostalgia!

Moon, here is way to look at "paying" for the GPU. It is almost never a good idea to assign a dollar value to chores. I learned from my kids that idea has a way to backfire. Think of it as reparations and a ten year old's typical short attention span.

You mentioned your daughter's loss of the computer, etc. Perhaps when the pc is good to go again. Your son gives up a portion of his computer time adding to his sisters to pay her back for the loss he caused her. If they each get an hour give her fifteen minutes of his time for a week or so. Make it short so he does not become resentful. sister will feel better. Do something similar with other people who suffered a loss. In this way he can see his actions caused harm to others and he can see he accounted for his actions.

Just a suggestion, I'm far from an expert but having raised three kids this kind of approached had worked better for us. It took quite awhile to figure it out.